Outfoxed
by Aussiegirl41
Summary: Tensions run high when Scully and Mulder have to work with another pair of agents on a case. It doesn't help that Mulder is treating the whole thing like a joke.


Two other agents also assigned to the case met them at the entrance of the crime scene. Scully couldn't help being amused at the pair's startling height difference. Before she could introduce herself, however, Mulder was doing it for her.

"Fox Mulder, and this is my partner, Dana Scully."

The shorter of the two agents eyed them speculatively. "Spooky Mulder?" he taunted. "Never thought I'd see the day where we'd be paired up with such a cutting-edge agent."

Ignoring his partner's rudeness, the taller one shook Mulder's hand before grasping hers firmly. "Agent Patrick Green."

She smiled politely.

"And this is Agent Michael Plumb, with a 'b'," he added, nodding toward his partner, whose lip was still curled in what she guessed must have been a permanent sneer.

"Green? Plumb?" Mulder's gave the room a customary glance. "My first guess is going to be the candlestick in the library."

"Like we haven't heard that one before," Plumb drawled. "Was Fox a family name, by the way?"

She arched an eyebrow in the general direction of all three men. "May I suggest we examine the crime scene? The victim has been missing for twelve hours."

Green gave one curt nod before filling them in on the details of the case. "Susie Myles. Ten years of age. Mother, Jan, put her into bed at around eight last night. Got up in the middle of the night when she heard a crackling noise. Child was gone."

"A crackling noise? What exactly is a crackling noise?"

Plumb flipped his notebook. "The mother described it as softer than lightning. Said it reminded her of someone playing with wrapping paper. She thought Susie had got up and started coloring perhaps."

"How long did it take before she reported Susie as missing?" Mulder asked.

"She searched the house and the yard and called the uniforms at around 3 A.M."

"Neighbors been interviewed?"

"On the west we have Carl and Joan Robinson. They're away visiting their grandchildren. The neighbor on the east is Jack Griffin, hotshot lawyer who works 20 hour days and has yet to meet Susie and her mom. Uniforms are questioning the rest of the street, but nothing so far."

"Let's have a look at the room," Scully suggested.

Scully and Mulder followed Green down the hallway to the child's room. Twenty or so assorted pink teddy bears were scattered across a bright pink duvet covering a white wrought iron bed.

"How does Susie squeeze into that thing?" she asked.

"I don't know, Scully," Mulder whispered, his mouth suddenly close to her ear. "When there's a will there's a way with small beds."

She took a step away from him to study the rest of the room's furnishings. A small table and chairs sat in the corner of the room, crayons scattered haphazardly around them. More toys were perched on a couple of low shelves.

"Mother say anything was missing?" she asked.

Plumb again consulted his notes: "Nope. The latch on the window was locked from the inside."

"So the perpetrator had to enter through the bedroom door," she mused.

"There are other possibilities," Mulder pointed out.

"I doubt it," she said with an eye roll.

"Always the skeptic, Scully."

"In this case, yes." Scully glanced around the room again, and frowned. "Do you notice something about this bedroom?"

"It's very...pink?" Green noted.

"Exactly. Susie's ten, and this room looks like it's decorated for a girl half her age. Is there a father?" she asked Plumb.

"Unless Spooky insists on Susie being some immaculately conceived savior, I'd say yes," he sneered.

Scully directed a bland look in his direction until eventually he cleared his throat and went on: "Father, Grayson Myles, lives in Sacramento. He and Jan have been divorced for about five years. Amicably."

"It's never amicable," Green interrupted uncomfortably.

"Sheriff's Department has been trying to get a hold of him, but he and the new wife have gone hiking in the redwoods near Santa Cruz apparently," Plumb finished.

"Five years? When Susie was five..."

"You think that's tied in somehow?"

"The bedroom's perhaps been untouched since he left," she murmured.

"The father's our chief suspect?" Green asked.

"Or the mother?" Plumb supposed.

"Or the mother's new boyfriend? There's always a new boyfriend," Green grumbled.

"Or-" Mulder took out a pair of gloves from his pocket before leaning down and picking up something from just beneath Susie's bed "-the Candyman?" he asked, holding up what appeared to be a chocolate wrapping.

"The crinkling?" Green wondered.

~*~

"Do you think you and I look like Green and Plumb?"

At Mulder's odd comment, Scully looked up from the transcripts of Jan Myles' interviews. "Excuse me?"

"Green could play basketball for the Lakers and Plumb's-"

"Vertically challenged?" she offered.

"I was gonna say he overcompensates due to his lack of height, and probably his small-"

"You think I overcompensate due to my lack of height?" she asked dryly.

"Of course you have a few other assets he doesn't possess, Scully."

She pursed her lips and went back to reading the interviews. "You know, Mulder, at this rate Green and Plumb will find Susie before us."

"I don't think so. They're not capable of thinking creatively."

She sighed. "We don't need to think out of the box in this case. Susie Myles was kidnapped by a human being."

"You're sure about that?"

"I just don't see the FBI-"

"Now _you're_ not thinking creatively. After everything I've taught you." He shook his head dramatically. "You disappoint me so."

"Everything _you've_ taught me?" she repeated, exasperated that he seemed to think this case was one big joke.

Suddenly, he headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Mulder?"

"I think I've just had an idea."

~*~

Scully sat beside Mulder in an interview room, his knee nudging hers distractingly, Green and Plumb opposite.

"Who's going to go first?" Green asked.

"Maybe I should," Mulder said, flashing Scully what he must consider a charming smile at her surprised look.

Plumb leaned back and spread his hands out invitingly. "I just can't wait to hear your theory, Mulder."

Mulder smiled again. "It's all pretty obvious. Susie Myles was abducted by an alien life force beyond our comprehension."

"An alien who eats candy," Plumb added sarcastically.

"The candy wrapper was a red herring," Mulder stated confidently. "It has nothing to do with the case at all."

"That I agree with," she found herself saying. "I think it was there to deliberately distract us."

"Yes," Plumb agreed, almost pleasantly, she noted with another touch of surprise. "The candy wrapper was most certainly placed there by the kidnapper to put us off. Perhaps Grayson Myles dropped it there after he already had the girl out of the house."

"Grayson Myles took a chance that his ex-wife might hear him by returning to Susie's bedroom and planting evidence?" Mulder scoffed. "That's crazy."

"No crazier than your ridiculous higher life force theory," Plumb growled.

"I didn't say they were a higher life force, but it depends who we're comparing them-"

"Agents," Green's authoritative voice silenced the room. "We have another-" he checked his watch "-fifteen minutes to put forward our theories. I don't think we have time to squabble. Agent Scully, do you agree with your partner?"

"No," she said, wincing when Mulder flashed her a hurt look.

"Go on," Green encouraged. "Who is your prime suspect?"

"I don't think there is one, so to speak. I don't believe Susie Myles was kidnapped."

"You think she transformed into one of the dolls on her bed?" Plumb snorted.

"I believe Susie Myles died five years ago," Scully went on, ignoring Plumb's comment. "I would even speculate that today could be the anniversary of her death."

Green nodded. "The well-preserved bedroom. The neighbors' statements... What about death records?"

"According to the profile, Jan Myles worked as a county clerk from 1988 to 1990. I think she somehow found a way to tamper with the state records. I think she knew her ex-husband was going to be out of cellphone range this weekend; he probably told her, knowing her mental fragility. With him out of the picture to discredit her story, she was able to carry on with the drama of this abduction."

"But why?" Plumb asked. "Why go to all this trouble? Her fifteen minutes of fame?"

"She somehow blames herself for Susie's death. I think, when we eventually catch up with Grayson Myles, we'll find that Susie's death was some sort of accident which Jan was involved in and that their divorce was a direct result of Susie's death. In my opinion, Jan Myles is suffering a type of PTSD; and has created the crime in a similar situation that mothers with Münchausen Syndrome by Proxy create diseases for their children. She planted the candy wrapper to ensure our investigation was drawn out as long as possible."

Scully took a breath and looked around the room. Mulder was chewing on a sunflower seed, his attitude one of respect, but still tinged with more than a touch of mockery. Green and Plumb were looking a little more receptive to her idea. In fact, they were nodding eagerly.

"I'm going to say my official line is exactly the same as Agent Scully's," Plumb announced. "Let's put it in writing." He took out one of the forms from their case file and began to transcribe her assessment.

"How about you, Mulder? Are you willing to change your mind for Agent Scully?"

"The question could be, is she willing to change her mind for me?"

Scully tilted her head and held Mulder's gaze. His leg pressed against hers again. Slowly he bent his head so that he could speak directly into her ear. "Why don't you ever want to believe me?"

"I do," she said in a strangled whisper.

Mulder grimaced and reached for a separate piece of paper, making his own notes regarding the case.

After they'd all jotted down their findings, she tried to plead with Mulder again. "Mulder, in this situation there can be no possible way the case could be considered an x-file."

"But what you don't know is-"

Before he could continue, the interview room's door opened and Agent Simpson, who'd they'd met yesterday when they'd arrived for the compulsory training exercise, walked in.

"Thank you, agents. You're all free to go now. We need you to leave all the paperwork here and we'll provide your section chiefs with the appropriate evaluation."

Simpson then produced an envelope from his inside jacket pocket. "The answer to today's assignment. You're free to open it as well."

~*~

They squashed into one of the booths in Quantico's main cafeteria; the envelope, which Green had taken possession of initially, sitting in the middle of the table.

"Shall I?" Plumb asked, drumming his fingers along the edge of the envelope.

"We're all waiting, Colonel."

"Colonel?" Scully asked, puzzled.

"Mustard," Mulder explained with a grin.

She rolled her eyes, but Plumb never took Mulder's bait. He was too engrossed with the letter he'd removed from Simpson's envelope.

"This is insanity," he finally muttered, his face pale.

"What?"

"It can't be."

Concerned, she plucked the letter from his shaking fingers and quickly scanned the letter. The official 'answer' to the Susie Myles scenario was printed on the sheet.

"What is it?" Green asked.

"In a nutshell," she sighed, "Susie Myles was abducted by an unidentified alien and, if the case was real, it would have been referred to the x-files."

She pinned her gaze on Mulder. He just shrugged.

"You cheated," she immediately accused.

"How could I have done that? Why can't you just believe that I'm not the only one who believes?"

She shook her head at his ridiculously posed question. Before she could protest further, however, Plumb spoke up.

"Kobayashi Maru," he growled.

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You changed the test so that you could win," Plumb continued.

Mulder grinned. "They deserved it."

"Deserved it?"

"Think about it, Scully. The crinkling? The candy wrapper left under the bed? Even with my limited knowledge of children, I'd wager that most of them don't color at ten. The whole scenario was so patronizing. Even the Professor here came to the obvious conclusion."

"Just when I think you can't shock me-"

"I'll make it my lifetime goal to surprise you more often," he said in a deeper than normal tone, his leg again sliding along hers beneath the table.

"I don't understand," Green said. "If Scully's conclusion would have been correct before you changed the answer..."

"The answer wasn't a challenge," Mulder replied. "Changing the answer was." He turned to Scully. "I'm sorry. I know you worked hard," he said sincerely.

She gave him a shy smile before he next nodded toward Plumb. "Kobayashi Maru. I'm impressed you'd know such a term. Maybe I underestimated you, Professor."

"I haven't heard the term," she admitted.

"What, Scully? I'm shocked. At least tell me you know who Captain Kirk is."

"I've vaguely heard of him," she teased.

"If you would excuse us, gentlemen." Mulder stood and tugged her out of the booth. "I think it's time we went and checked out the Academy's video library. It seems Agent Scully has a little catching up to do."

"You'll love Khan," Plumb called out.

Mulder grinned over her shoulder. "You know, that Plumb's not so bad, once you get to know him."

She leaned in closer. "I could say the same about you, Mulder."

His hand rested on the small her back as they exited the cafeteria. "I think, Scully, once you get to know me you'll find I can be very good."

A shiver of anticipation and desire ran through her body. _That_, she thought, she could believe.


End file.
